Pity the sweat-covered atheist climbers who clamber up the Bavarian Alps this Sunday for they will be greeted by a summit cross (Gipfelkreuz). God meets man on the mountain. The crucifix is part of the identity of the largest and oldest and most Catholic state in the Federal Republic of Germany. In August 2008, a court in Augsburg ruled that teachers in Bavarian state primary schools could not remove crucifixes from classrooms in accordance with their personal beliefs, because the crucifix “stood for Christian values and represents Bavaria’s Christian heritage.” However, a 1995 court decision means that while Bavaria is allowed to put a crucifix in every public school classroom, education officials are required to take them down if parents complain. Crucifixes are common in hospitals in Bavaria as well.